로그인공유
Chapter 3: The Unwelcome Guest
최신 업데이트:
2025-11-29 01:15:47Kaelan
The penthouse was too quiet after she left.
Kaelan remained at his desk, the signed contract a stark, black-and-white victory on the polished wood. He had won. He had secured the necessary asset to project stability, to fortify his empire against the Thorne Group’s encroachment. It was a flawless strategic move.
So why did the silence feel so… loud?
He replayed the meeting in his mind. The defiance in her hazel eyes, the way her voice had sharpened when she called herself a “mannequin.” Most people he negotiated with were either sycophantic or terrified. Elara Vega had been neither. She had been hostile, a cornered artist with the spine of a warrior queen. It was an inconvenient variable he hadn’t fully accounted for.
His intercom buzzed, a welcome intrusion. “Mr. Sterling,” Marcus’s voice came through, “the team from Architech is here for the 11 a.m. briefing.”
“Send them in,” Kaelan said, his voice returning to its usual, controlled timbre.
He slid the contract into a drawer, locking it away. The deal was done. The variable would be managed.
---
Elara
The drive back to Brooklyn was a blur of steel and noise. The weight of what she had done pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe. Twenty-four hours ago, her biggest concern had been whether the cadmium red for her new series would arrive on time. Now, she had sold a year of her life to a man who saw her as a line item on a budget.
Her studio, once her sanctuary, now felt like a relic of a past life. The half-finished seascape on the easel seemed to mock her. What was the point of painting storms when you were living one?
She needed to get out. She needed her best friend.
An hour later, she was nestled in a worn velvet booth at “The Grind,” her favorite coffee shop, the air rich with the scent of roasted beans and sugar. Lena was already there, two massive ceramic mugs of steaming latte between them.
“Okay, spill,” Lena said, her sharp eyes missing nothing. “You have that ‘my world just ended’ look, which is usually reserved for when you accidentally use Prussian Blue when you meant Phthalo.”
Elara wrapped her hands around the warm mug, drawing a shaky breath. “It’s worse than a color mix-up, Lena. So much worse.” The whole story tumbled out in a hushed, frantic torrent—her uncle’s ultimatum, the forty-two million dollar debt, the sterile office, the icy billionaire, and the contract she had signed.
Lena listened, her expression shifting from concern to outright horror. “He did what?” she finally hissed, leaning forward. “Your uncle sold you to Kaelan Sterling to cover his own incompetent—or, let’s be real, probably criminal—ass? And you signed?”
“What choice did I have?” Elara whispered, tears of anger and shame pricking her eyes. “Let my father’s company die? Let him lose everything while he’s sick?”
“There’s always another choice, El. We could go to the press! I could write a scathing expose—‘Billionaire Buys a Bride’!”
“And in the time it takes for that to run, Vega Designs would be a smoking crater,” Elara said, the reality of it cold and absolute. “This was the only way. It’s just one year.”
“One year in a gilded cage is still a prison sentence,” Lena countered, but her voice had softened. She reached across the table and squeezed Elara’s hand. “What’s he like? Sterling? Is he as much of a robot as he seems?”
A vivid image of Kaelan’s piercing, assessing gaze flashed in Elara’s mind. “Worse. He’s… cold. Like a perfectly carved ice sculpture. He looked at me and saw a problem to be solved, not a person.”
“Well,” Lena said, a determined glint in her eye. “Then you’ll just have to be the most inconvenient, problematic problem he’s ever had to deal with. You might be his wife on paper, but you don’t have to make it easy for him.”
A small, weary smile touched Elara’s lips for the first time all day. “Easy” was not a word that would ever describe her interactions with Kaelan Sterling.
---
Kaelan
He stood in the center of the guest wing of his penthouse, a space that had been decorated by a team to be inoffensive and impersonal. It was all beige tones, sleek furniture, and art that was expensive but devoid of soul. Marcus stood beside him, tablet in hand.
“The last of Ms. Vega’s belongings from the preliminary background check have been cleared,” Marcus said. “The space is ready for her arrival tomorrow.”
Kaelan gave a curt nod. “Ensure the security system is updated with her biometrics. She will have access to this wing and the common areas. My office and private suite remain restricted.”
“Understood,” Marcus replied, making a note. He hesitated. “Sir, if I may… Alistair Vega’s financials are… messy. The story about the embezzlement by his partner checks out, but the speed of the company’s decline is… notable.”
Kaelan’s eyes narrowed. “Noted, Marcus. Keep looking. I don’t like loose ends.” His gaze swept over the sterile guest room. It was a cage, yes, but a five-star one. It was more than sufficient for the terms of their agreement.
He turned and walked back toward his side of the penthouse, the vast space feeling more divided than ever. He had acquired a wife. He had secured a business advantage. It was, by every metric that mattered to him, a success.
But as he poured himself a drink later that evening, standing once more before the wall of glass, the city lights seemed to blur. He couldn't shake the image of Elara Vega’s defiant eyes, the way she had signed her name not with resignation, but with a promise of a fight.
“Don’t mistake my signature for surrender.”
The variable, he realized, was already proving disruptive. And for the first time in a long time, Kaelan Sterling felt a flicker of something unfamiliar—the unsettling thrill of the unpredictable.
최신 챕터
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 6: The Stylist's Gambit
ElaraThe promised stylist arrived precisely at 4 p.m. on Friday. Her name was Colette, a woman who moved with the sharp, efficient grace of a bird of prey, her all-black outfit costing more than Elara’s entire monthly rent back in Brooklyn. She was followed by two assistants rolling a rack of garments shrouded in protective black cloth.“Ms. Vega,” Colette said, her eyes performing the same rapid, dispassionate assessment Kaelan had. “We have a great deal of work to do and very little time. Let’s begin.”For the next hour, Elara was poked, prodded, and measured in the center of her sitting room. Colette made quiet, clinical notes on a tablet. “The bone structure is excellent. The skin tone, warm. The hair… we will have it professionally tamed before the gala. But the posture… you slouch. You carry yourself like you wish to be smaller. That will not do.”Elara, who had always thought she carried herself just fine, felt a f
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 5: The First Test
KaelanThe penthouse felt different.It wasn't anything tangible, nothing he could pinpoint on a financial statement or a security report. It was a shift in the atmosphere, a subtle vibration in the air that had not been there before. The scent of turpentine and linseed oil, faint but persistent, had infiltrated his sterile environment. It was the smell of her.He found himself pausing outside the closed door of her wing each morning, listening for any sound. He heard nothing, but the mere presence of the barrier felt significant. The variable was contained, but it was not quiet.His focus was supposed to be on the impending merger with the Japanese tech firm, Synapse Corp. It was the entire raison d'être for this marital arrangement. Yet, during a crucial video conference, his eyes drifted to the live security feed of the common areas on his secondary monitor. He saw her cross the living room, a sketchbook in hand, heading toward th
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 4: Crossing the Threshold
ElaraThe movers had been efficient and impersonal, just like the man who was now her husband. They had taken only what she had specified: her art supplies, a trunk of personal mementos, and her clothing. The rest of her life—the worn-in sofa, the bookshelves crammed with novels, the collection of strange rocks and seashells—remained behind in the Brooklyn studio, a life put on pause.Lena stood with her on the sidewalk, a solid presence in the swirling autumn wind. "Remember the safe word," Lena said, only half-joking. "If it gets too unbearable, you text me 'Vermeer,' and I'll call in a bomb threat or something."A weak smile touched Elara's lips. "I think that might violate the 'no public scandals' clause of the contract.""Details, details." Lena pulled her into a fierce hug. "Don't let him sand down your edges, El. You're all edges and color. That place needs it."With a final, deep breath that did nothing to calm her racin
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 3: The Unwelcome Guest
KaelanThe penthouse was too quiet after she left.Kaelan remained at his desk, the signed contract a stark, black-and-white victory on the polished wood. He had won. He had secured the necessary asset to project stability, to fortify his empire against the Thorne Group’s encroachment. It was a flawless strategic move.So why did the silence feel so… loud?He replayed the meeting in his mind. The defiance in her hazel eyes, the way her voice had sharpened when she called herself a “mannequin.” Most people he negotiated with were either sycophantic or terrified. Elara Vega had been neither. She had been hostile, a cornered artist with the spine of a warrior queen. It was an inconvenient variable he hadn’t fully accounted for.His intercom buzzed, a welcome intrusion. “Mr. Sterling,” Marcus’s voice came through, “the team from Architech is here for the 11 a.m. briefing.”“Send them in,” Kaelan said, his voice returning to its
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 2: The Negotiation
ElaraThe Sterling Holdings tower was a shard of cold, reflective glass piercing the Manhattan skyline. Elara felt its shadow upon her the moment she stepped out of the taxi. She’d chosen her armor carefully: a simple, well-cut black dress that was the most conservative thing she owned, and her mother’s antique silver locket, a tiny piece of her real self she could cling to. Her chestnut curls were tamed into a low bun, but a few rebellious strands had already escaped.The lobby was a cathedral of wealth, all marble and echoing silence. A sleek, silent elevator whisked her to the top floor. With every passing floor, the air felt thinner, colder.Marcus Thorne, Kaelan’s right-hand man, met her at the elevator bank. He had a kind, if professionally neutral, face. “Ms. Vega. Mr. Sterling is ready for you.”He led her not to a conference room, but to Kaelan’s private office. The room was vast, with a panoramic view of the cit
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 1 : The Gilded Cage
KaelanThe only sound in the penthouse was the quiet tick of the Breguet clock on the wall and the soft whisper of central air. Kaelan Sterling stood before a wall of glass, looking down at a New York City that was, for all intents and purposes, his. The sprawling, glittering grid of lights was a circuit board of power and commerce, and he held the master switch.At thirty-five, he had the weary posture of a king who had won his throne too young. His dark hair was impeccably styled, not a strand out of place, and the custom-fit charcoal suit was his daily armor. He swirled the amber liquid in his crystal tumbler, the ice cubes clinking a solitary melody.“The Thorne Group is making another move,” his grandmother, Eleanor, said from the leather wingback chair behind him. Her voice, like the rustle of old money, cut through the silence. “They’re courting our Asian partners. A show of instability now would be… costly.”Kaelan didn’t
다른 추천
SIN
MercyCrown1.1M 조회수Triplets on Secret Mission
Lamour Toujours1.2M 조회수Can't Win Me Back
Ginger Sue2.9M 조회수Watch Out, CEO Daddy!
Wine Warms The Flowers1.4M 조회수Fell for Mr. Wrong, Drove Him Mad With Goodbye
Forest Fire126 조회수BOUNDED BY FAITH
Simmu🦋77 조회수Falling for My Ex-Husband's Enemy
anonymous_author485 조회수My Cheating Husband Regretted Everything After I Married a Powerful Billionaire
Sweet Cookie30 조회수
